The Spector of Violence

First of all, let's say right up front that I abhor gunplay, murder and suicide. You'd think that really did not need to be said these days, but just so there's no misunderstanding, I said it. I curse the day that guns were invented and I direct to perdition all those who commit violence just because they feel like it. And there are plenty of people roaming around who would literally shoot you as fast as look at you, but they tend not to be imprisoned for reasons I tend not to understand.



Legendary music producer Harvey Phillip "Phil" Spector has been convicted of second-degree murder in Los Angeles. You have to figure he was really guilty, what with LA being the bastion of justice unable to get a conviction in the cases of O.J. Simpson, Robert Blake and Michael Jackson.



In 2003, Lana Clarkson, whose career as a model and actress apparently peaked when she played the gorgeous wife of the odd-looking Biology teacher in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," found herself working in a bar where she met the diminutive Spector. He took her home to what is usually called his "Mansion in Alhambra," the implication being that he has a fantastic house in a not-so-great neighborhood. Ironically, the initial supposition was that Clarkson was star-struck and thought that the man who produced such classic hits as "Be My Baby," "He's A Rebel," "Today I Met The Boy I'm Gonna Marry," "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," and that entire great Christmas album, could possibly do things for her career. But it turned out, she didn't know him from Adam Lambert.

Clarkson is dead, killed by a handgun shot to her mouth. It's been almost six years, and it took all this time through the delays and one mistrial to arrive at this verdict. At 69, Spector faces 18 years in prison at his May 29th sentencing, and, with his legs shackled, seems destined to shuffle off to an ignominious end, barring an unsuccesful appeal. The evidence against him was preponderant. Not only were the prosecutors able to point to countless episodes of Spector menacing friends and loved ones with pistols and brutality in years past, they also had his chauffeur testify he heard a gunshot, and that Phil came out of the death scene with a gun in his hand, saying, "I think I've killed someone." The defense's effort to paint Clarkson as despondent to the point of suicide over her failed career proved unsuccessful.

He was a terrific music producer. His records for the Crystals, the Ronettes, The Righteous Brothers, even the Beatles, still sound great to me after 40-some years. He hired the greatest musicians and assistant producers - one of whom, Salvatore "Sonny" Bono, was his #1 lieutenant until the day he honestly told Phil that he didn't think a certain record was the greatest music heard since Gabriel. Sonny got fired that day and went on to eke out successful niches in show business playing the schlamozel to Cher and the congressman from California. Phil had issues, they say. Problems with rage. Well, his music helped a lot of us learn to love music, and share that love with others.

Where was the help for Phil?